The present invention relates to a vehicle driveline assembly and more particularly to an assembly for housing clutch plates without using a conventional snap ring.
A clutch permits selectively coupling a vehicle engine to the transmission for driving the wheels. The clutch generally comprises a series of vehicle driveline components such as a series of clutch plates. These components are all placed in a housing. A snap ring retains these components within the housing. To receive and hold the position of the snap ring, a slot or retainer typically is formed at a predetermined location on the housing prior to loading the plates into the housing. A spacer is also disposed in the housing to establish a proper distance between the plates to ensure proper clutch operation.
The current method of producing clutch assemblies is inefficient. Due to variations in the distance between the components and the slot for the snap ring, an assembler must measure the distance between components and slot and then select by hand the proper spacer to employ prior to inserting the snap ring into the assembly. A variety of differently sized spacers must be available to the assembler during the manufacturing process. The additional assembly and operator time decreases the economies of clutch assembly.
A need therefore exists for an inexpensive method of producing a transmission assembly without the requirement of maintaining an inventory of a variety of spacers.
In general terms, this invention is an assembly for use in a vehicle driveline. In a disclosed embodiment of this invention, the assembly comprises a housing with an inner surface and an outer surface. At least one clutch component such as a set of clutch places is supported within the housing. A retention element is disposed in the housing and at least one deformation on the housing operates to contact the retention element and to retain the clutch component in the housing. The preferred retention element is a spacer that ensures proper clutch plate spacing within the housing. A significant advantage provided by this invention is eliminating the need for a snap ring.
In one example, the housing deformation extends into a corresponding portion of the retention element and prevents the retention element from moving axially in either direction within the housing. The housing deformation extends radially inward in one example and radially outward in another version.
In one example, the inventive assembly is manufactured by inserting an appropriate series of clutch plates into the housing. The retention element is axially positioned in the housing to a position that ensures proper distances between the plates. While at this point, a forming tool deforms the housing to maintain the retention element within the housing so that the desired clutch operation is possible. The housing deformations may extend into the retention element to lock its location relatives to the housing.
The inventive method of manufacture eliminates the need for differently sized spacers and snap rings because the housing location of the deformation and the retention element can be tailored relative to the actual location of the stack of components to ensure proper distance between the components during operation after installation in a vehicle driveline. Also, the spacer may be used as the retention element, eliminating the need for a snap ring. In this way, only one sized spacer is required for producing a variety of clutches.
The various features and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the currently preferred embodiments. The drawings that accompany the detailed description can be briefly described as follows.